Mike Bloomberg says he may sell his media company if he runs for president

Dakin CampbellDec 5, 2018, 09.42 PM

Michael Bloomberg.Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Michael Bloomberg told a radio interviewer this week that if he runs for president he will sell his financial data and news operation, or place it in a blind trust.

The 76-year-old added that at the very least, he'd like to sell the company before he dies.

Michael Bloomberg, the founder of the eponymous financial data and news operation, said he is likely to sell his company if he runs for president, according to an interview he gave to a local radio station.

"I think at my age, if selling it is possible, I would do that," Bloomberg said, adding that at the very least he wants to sell the company before he dies. "At some point, you're going to die anyway, so you want to do it before then."

Bloomberg LP has more than 300,000 terminals installed on trading desks across Wall Street and London's financial district, the City, in addition to hundreds of locations around the world. The firm competes with Refinitiv, the company formerly known as Thomson Reuters. Bloomberg also owns a massive media operation, which has long been considered reliant on a subsidy from the terminal business to stay afloat.

This is the not the first time Bloomberg has considered running for president. In the run-up to the 2016 elections, the former New York City mayor commissioned an examination of his chances only to decide against a run after that effort found he had little chance of winning. In September, the New York Times said Bloomberg was formally considering a bid for president, anonymously citing his advisers.

Bloomberg, who was a member of the Republican party when he served as New York City mayor, recently re-registered as a Democrat.

Bloomberg spent $80 million in support of Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections.